West Virginia Code 5A-8-11 – Essential state records – Safekeeping
(a) The administrator shall prescribe a manner of safekeeping of essential state records and preservation duplicates and may establish, with the approval of the Legislature, storage facilities therefor. The administrator may provide for physical storage outside the state or electronic storage.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 5A-8-11
- Agency: means any department, office, commission, board, or other unit, however designated, of the executive branch of state government. See West Virginia Code 5A-8-3
- Disaster: means any occurrence of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, explosion, epidemic, riot, sabotage, or other condition of extreme peril resulting in substantial damage or injury to persons or property within this state, whether such occurrence is caused by an act of God, nature, or man, including an enemy of the United States. See West Virginia Code 5A-8-3
- Preservation duplicate: means a copy of an essential state record which is used for the purpose of preserving such state record pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 5A-8-3
- Record: means document, electronic file, book, paper, photograph, sound recording, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official state government business. See West Virginia Code 5A-8-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State record: means :
(A) A record of a department, office, commission, board, spending unit, or other agency, however designated, of the state government. See West Virginia Code 5A-8-3
(b) When in the opinion of the administrator the legally designated or customary location of an essential state record is such that the essential state record may be destroyed or unavailable in the event of a disaster:
(1) The agency with custody of the essential state record shall store a preservation duplicate at another location and permit such state record to remain at its legally designated or customary location; or
(2) The agency shall store such state record at a location other than its legally designated or customary location and deposit at the legally designated or customary location a preservation duplicate for use in lieu of the state record; or
(3) The agency may store such state record at a location other than its legally designated or customary location, without providing for a preservation duplicate, upon a determination that it is impracticable to provide for a preservation duplicate and that the state record is not frequently used. Such determination shall be made by the administrator and the regularly designated custodian of such state record, but if they disagree the determination shall be made by the administrator.
(c) The requirements of subsection (b) of this section shall not prohibit the administrator from removing an essential state record or preservation duplicate from the legally designated or customary location of the state record if a disaster has occurred or is imminent.